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REPLY. 


OF  THE 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 

OF  THE 

» 1 

IDdatoare  ani*  Haritan  ®anal  anb  (Hamben  an'O 

KailrcaiJ  anb  transportation  dTompanirs, 

TO  A LETTER 

ADDRESSED  TO  THE  HON.  G.  W.  HOPKINS, 

CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  POST  OFFICES  AND  POST 
ROADS  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE  U.  S.> 

BY  THE 

HON.  CAVE  JOHNSON,  POST  MASTER  GENERA!.. 


TRENTON: 

ARK  OLD  U BRITTAIN,  PRINTERS. 

1847. 


REPLY. 

In  the  month  of  October  last,  a committee  of  the  joint  board 
of  d rectors  of  the  Delaware  and  Raritan  Canal  and  Camden  and 
Amboy  Railroad  and  Transportation  Companies,  made  a report  to 
the  joint  board  on  the  subject  of  the  transportation  of  the  mails 
between  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  To  this  a reply  has  been 
made  by  the  Post  Master  General,  in  a letter  published,  in  the 
present  month,  addressed  to  the  Hon.  G.  W.  Hopkins,  which  con- 
tains statements,  allegations,  and  reasoning,  which,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  companies,  require  cor- 
rection, denial,  and  refutation. 

But  this  would  seem  to  be  unnecessary,  since  the  whole  ques- 
tion is  settled  by  the  authoritative  declaration  of  the  Post  Mas- 
ter Genera],  that  the  “accuracy  of  its  (the  Reports)  allegations, 
and  the  justice  of  its  complaints,  you  can  judge,  when  I assure 
you  that  the  schedule  it  denounces,  as  being  ordered  ill  the  ab- 
sence of  all  right,  I had  full  authority  to  prescribe  under  the 
powers  confe  red  by  law  upon  the  Post  Master  General.”  How 
far  he  is  justified  in  this  declaration  and  in  his  subsequent  state- 
ments, will  be  made  to  appear  in  the  sequel.  He  proceeds : 
“ The  right  of  the  department  to  prescribe  at  what  hours  the 
mail  shall  be  conveyed  upon  its  routes  exists  in  every  case,  un- 
less surrendered  by  the  Post  Master  General  in  the  contract.  In 
this  case  there  was  no  subsisting  contract,  and  the  last  contract 
between  the  company  and  the  department  expressly  recognized 
the  right  of  the  Post  Master  General  to  alter  this  schedule.  The 
endeavor  to  make  out  an.  admission  by  the  department  against 
its  right  to  change  this  schedule  is  done,  I regret  to  see,  by  means 
©f  a letter,  relating  to  a different  schedule,  which  had  been  placed 


',2.  $3 


4 


by  the  contract  and  the  correspondence  of  the  parties  on  a foot- 
ing entirely  the  reverse  of  the  schedule  in  question,  in  respect  to 
the  power  of  the  Post  Master  General  over  it.” 

In  order  that,  in  the  examination  of  the  letter  of  Mr.  Johnson 
which  we  propose  there  may  be  no  misapprehension  arising 
from  garbled  extracts,  we  annex  the  contract  and  schedule  of 
1840. 

No.  1301.  RAIL  ROAD  MAIL. 

New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,to  Philadelphia,  Penn.  §16,927  96. 
This  Indenture  of  contract  made  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  June, 
1840,  between  R.  F.  Stockton,  president  of  the  Philadelphia  and 
Trenton  Railroad  Company,  &c.,  contractor  for  carrying  the 
mails  of  the  United  States,  of  the  one  part,  and  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  of  the  other  part,  witnesseth — 

That  the  said  parties  have  mutually  covenanted  as  follows, 
viz : That  the  said  contractor  covenants  with  the  United  States, 

1st.  To  carry  the  mail  of  the  United  States,  from  New  Bruns- 
wick, N.  J.,  by  Kingston,  Princeton,  and  Trenton,  whilst  the 
Philadelphia  and  Trenton  Railroad  is  undergoing  repairs*  but 
when  that  road  shall  be  completed,  and  the  New  York  and  Phil- 
adelphia passengers  are  taken  over  the  Philadelphia  and  Trenton 
Railroad,  then,  and  in  that  case,  the  said  mails  are  to  be  left 
along  the  line  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  Railroad,  at  the 
following  places,  viz : Morrisville,  Pa.,  Tullytown,  Bristol 
Bridgewater  and  Andalusia,  to  Philadelphia,  and  back,  twice 
daily,  in  railroad  cars,  at  the  rate  of  four  thousand  two  hundred 
and  thirty-one  dollars  and  ninety-seven  cents  and  one-half,  for 
every  quarter  of  a year  during  the  continuance  of  this  contract,  to 
be  paid  by  the  postmasters  on  the  route,  above  mentioned,  or 
otherwise,  at  the  option  of  the  Post  Master  General  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  months  of  May , August,  November  and  February. 

2nd.  That  the  mail  shall  be  duly  conveyed  on  this  route,  in 
the  time  specified  in  the  annexed  schedule,  and  in  a secure  and 
safe  manner,  free  from  wet  or  other  injury — that  it  shall  be  duly 
taken  from  and  delivered  into  the  post  office  at  the  end  of  the  route, 
and  to  the  carriers  of  the  intermediate  offices — a delivery  of  the 
appropriate  mails  to  the  contractors  on  their  depending  route* 


5 


will  be  taken  in  lieu  of  the  delivery  of  such  mails  into  the  post 
office. 

3d.  That  if  the  contractor  shall  run  a regular  train  of  passen- 
ger cars  more  frequently  than  he  is  required  by  the  contract  to 
carry  the  mail,  he  shall  give  the  same  increase  frequency  to  the 
mail,  and  without  increase  of  compensation,  and  the  like  as  to 
increased  speed  of  the  mail  trains. 

4th.  That  he  shall  not,  by  himself  or  any  of  his  agents,  trans- 
mit, or  be  concerned  in  transmitting  commercial  intelligence 
more  rapidly  than  by  mail,  nor  carry  out  of  the  mail  letters  or 
newspapers  which  should  go  by  post. 

5th.  That  the  contractor  will,  if  required  by  the  Post  Master 
General,  collect  quarterly,  of  postmasters  on  said  route,  the  bal- 
ance due  from  them  to  the  general  post  office,  and  faithfully  ren- 
der an  account,  thereof  to  the  Post  Master  General,  in  the  settle- 
ment of  quarterly  accounts,  and  will  pay  over  to  the  general 
post  office  all  balances  remaining  in  his  hands. 

6th.  That  in  every  case  of  failure  to  perform  the  trip,  unless 
not  by  neglect,  want  of  proper  skill  or  misconduct,  there  may  be 
a forfeiture  of  pay  for  the  trip  ; and  a failure  to  arrive  at  a post 
office  so  long  after  the  time  set  in  the  schedule,  as  to  lose  the 
connection  with  a depending  mail,  will  be  considered  as  equal 
to  a whole  trip  lost. 

7th.  That  the  contractor  shall  be  subject,  for  failure  to  take 
or  deliver  a mail,  or  any  part  of  a mail — for  suffering  a mail  to 
be  wet,  or  otherwise  injured,  or  lost,  or  destroyed,  to  a penalty  of 
five  dollars,  which  may  be  increased  to  one  hundred  dollars,  accor- 
ding to  the  size  and  importance  of  the  mail,  and  the  circum- 
stances under  which  the  failure  occurred,  unless  it  shall  appear 
that  such  failure,  or  other  accident,  as  aforesaid,  was  not  caused 
by  neglect,  vcant  of  proper  skill,  or  misconduct  in  the  company. 

8th,  That  the  contractor  shall  be  answerable  for  the  ade- 
quacy of  the  means  of  transportation,  for  the  faithfulness,  ability 
and  diligence  of  his  agents,  and  for  the  safety,  due  receipt, 
and  delivery,  as  aforesaid,  of  the  mails. 

9th.  '\  hat  if  the  Postmaster  General  shall  direct  a change  of 
the  hours  of  departure  and  arrival,  set  forth  in  the  annexed  sche- 


6 


dule  for  the  evening  line,  and  the  contractor  shall  not  comply  with 
such  directions,  he  shall  have  power  to  annul  the  contract,  on 
giving  not  less  than  ten  days  notice  of  his  intention  to  do  so,  and 
that  if  the  contractor  shall  require  a change  of  the  hour  of  de- 
parture and  arrival  in  the  morning  line,  and  the  Post  Master  Gen- 
eral shall  not  agree  the:  eto,  the  contractor  shall  have  power  to 
close  the  service,  on  giving  not  less  than  ten  days  notice  of  his 
intention  to  do  so. 

10th.  That  the  Post  Master  General  may  dispense  wdth  the 
service  entirely,  he  allowing  one  month  extra  pay  upon  the 
amount  deducted,  in  case  he  wishes  to  do  so,  or  to  place  on  the 
route  a different  kind  of  service  than  is  contracted  for,  first  offer- 
ing the  privilege  to  the  contractor  on  the  route  of  performing  such 
service  on  the  terms  that  can  be  obtained. 

11th.  That  the  Post  Master  General  may  annul  the  contract 
for  repeated  failures  of  the  contractor  to  perform  any  of  the  stip- 
ulations of  the  contract,  for  violating  the  post  office  law,  or  dis- 
obeying the  instructions  of  the  department,  or  for  assigning  his 
contract  without  the  consent  of  the  Post  Master  General  first  ob- 
tained. 

12th.  The  said  United  States  covenant  with  the  said  contrac- 
tor to  pay  as  aforesaid,  at  the  rate  aforementioned,  quarterly,  in 
the  months  of  May,  August , November  and  February. 

Provided,  always,  that  this  contract  shall  be  null  and  void,  in 
case  the  contractor,  or  any  person  that  may  become  interested  in 
this  contract,  directly  or  indirectly,  shall  become  a postmaster, 
or  assistant  postmaster.  No  member  of  Congress  shall  be  admit- 
ted to  any  share  or  part  of  this  contract  or  agreement,  or  to  any 
benefit  to  arise  thereupon,  and  this  contract  shall,  in  all  its  parts, 
be  subject  to  the  terms  and  requisitions  of  an  act  of  Congress, 
passed  on  the  21st  day  of  April,  1808,  entitled  an  act  concern- 
ing public  contracts. 

And  it  is  mutually  covenanted  and  agreed  by  the  said  parties 
that  this  contract  shall  be  construed  to  commence  upon  the  first 
day  of  July,  1840,  and  continue  in  force  until  the  30th  day  of 
June,  1844. 

In  witness  whereof  the  said  contractor,  and  the  Post  Master 


7 


General  have  hereunto  set  their  hands  and  seals,  the  day  and  yea 
set  opposite  their  names,  respectively. 

Signed,  R.  F.  STOCKTON,  President. 

Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  the  pre- 
sence of 

The  word  passenger,  in  the  13th  line 
from  the  top  of  the  first  page,  being  first 
interlined. 

Wm.  Foreman. 

SCHEDULE  FOR  EVENING  LINE. 

Leave  New  Brunswick  on  arrival  of  New  York  mail,  say  not 
later  than  7 40  P.  M.,  arrive  in  Philadelphia  in  four  hours  and 
thirty-five  minutes  (fifteen  minutes  past  midnight)  at  latest. 

Leave  Philadelphia  at  5 P.  M.,  (but  to  wait  fifteen  minutes  for 
mail  if  necessary)  arrive  in  New  Brunswick  in  four  hours  and 
thirty-five  minutes  (9  o’clock  and  50  minutes,  P.  M.  at  latest.) 

FOR  MORNING  LINE. 

Leave  New  Brunswick  on  arrival  of  morning  line  from  New 
York,  or  two  hours  and  forty  minutes  after  its  regular  hour  of 
starting  from  there,  arrive  in  Philadelphia  in  four  hours  and 
thirty-five  minutes. 

Leave  Philadelphia  at  9 A.  M.  or  7 A.  M.,  arrive  in  New 
Brunswick  in  four  hours  and  thirty-five  minutes. 

This  schedule  is  subject  to  alteration  by  the  Post  Master  Gen- 
eral, agreeably  to  the  provisions  contained  in  the  ninth  section 
of  the  contract. 

Article  9th.  That  if  the  Post  Master  General  shall  direct  a 
change  of  the  hours  of  departure  and  arrival  set  forth  in  the  an- 
nexed schedule  for  the  evening  line  and  the  contractor  shall  not 
comply  with  such  directions ; he  shall  have  the  power  to  annul 
the  contract,  on  giving  ten  days  notice  of  his  intention  to  do  so, 
and  that  if  the  contractor  shall  require  a change  of  the  departure 
and  arrival  in  the  morning  line,  and  the  Post  Master  General 
shall  not  agree  thereto,  the  contractor  shall  have  power  to  close 
the  service  on  giving  not  less  than  ten  days  notice  of  his  inten- 
tion to  do  so. 


8 


It  will  then  be  perceived  by  this  ninth  article,  that  the  Post 
Master  General  had  the  right  to  direct  a change  of  the  hours  of 
departure  and  arrival  of  the  evening  line,  and  that  if  the  contractor 
refused  to  comply,  he  had  the  power  to  annul  the  contract, 
on  giving  ten  days  notice  of  his  intention  to  do  so.  It  is  alto- 
gether in  reference  to  the  change  of  the  schedule  of  this  line 
that  the  controversy  between  the  department  and  the  company 
has  arisen. 

The  question  thus  becomes  narrowed  down  to  a very  small 
compass.  Did  the  company  refuse  to  comply  with  the  direction 
for  a change  of  hours  of  departure  and  arrival,  or  did  they  accept 
the  new  schedule  ordered  under  the  power  conferred  by  this  ar- 
ticle ? If  they  refused  to  comply,  the  remedy  of  the  department 
was  plain  and  simple ; to  annul  the  contract  upon  ten  days  no- 
tice. If,  however,  after  their  refusal,  it  failed  to  do  so  and  con- 
tinued to  employ  their  services,  then  the  parties  were  restored 
to  the  position  they  respectively  occupied  before  the  issuing  of 
the  new  order,  and  the  companies  became,  by  the  decision  of  the 
department  itself,  entitled  to  all  the  rights  and  privileges  secured 
to  them  in  the  contract  under  which  they  were  holding  over. 

But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  company  did  accept  this  sche- 
dule, they  have  no  right  to  complain  afterward  of  its  injustice  or 
its  hardship.  The  simple  question  then  seems  to  be  : Did  or  did 
they  not  a(  cept  this  schedule  1 

The  Post  Master  General  in  his  letter,  states  as  a fact,  what 
the  company  most  emphatically  and  positively  deny,  “ that  it 
was  submitted  to  the  companies  for  their  consideration  before 
being  ordered — was  not  objected  to,  and  was  duly  and  cheerfully 
carried  into  effect.”  It  is  most  respectfully  asked  when,  where, 
how  and  to  whom,  was  it  ever  submitted  before  being  ordered  ? 
With  regard  to  the  Camden  and  Amboy  Company  and  the  Phil- 
adelphia and  Trenton  Railroad  Company,  the  allegation  is  alto- 
gether and  entirely  without  foundation.  So  far  from  this  being 
true,  the  schedule  was  ordered  on  the  20th  day  of  February, 
1846,  to  go  into  effect  on  the  15th  of  March,  and  on  the  5th 
day  of  March,  ten  days  before  it  was  to  go  into  operation,  the 
president  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  Railroad  Company, 


9 


thus  refused  to  comply  with  its  terms.  “ I beg  leave  to  acknowl- 
edge the  receipt  of  your  communication  of  the  29th  of  Febru- 
ary last,  and  in  reply  regret  that  the  Philadelphia  and  Trenton 
Railroad  Company  cannot  accept  the  schedule  for  Route  No. 
1301,  ordered  by  the  Post  Master  General.”  This  refusal  seems 
sufficiently  plain  and  explicit,  and  yet,  with  this  before  him,,  the 
Post  Master  General  in  his  letter,  now  under  consideration,  bold- 
ly declares  that  it  was  c‘  duly  and  cheerfully  carried  into  effect  .” 
The  first  time  probably  since  the  organization  of  the  department 
that  a direct  and  positive  refusal  was  construed  into  a due  and 
cheerful  compliance.  But  further,  in  order  that  there  might  be 
no  mistake  in  reference  to  the  objectiors  of  the  company,  the 
President  adds  “ that  in  running  all  their  lines,  as  much  expedi- 
tion will  be  given  to  the  mails,  as  circumstances  and  safety  will 
permit,  but  notwithstanding  the  route  is  very  frequently  run  in 
five  hours  from  city  to  city,  yet  the  company  are  not  willing  to 
bind  themselves  for  any  less  time  than  stipulated  in  their  former 
contract  with  the  Post  Office  Department.”  And  yet  even  this 
declaration,  according  to  the  new  mode  of  interpretation  adopted 
by  the  post  office  department,  is  a due  and  “ cheerf  ul 99  compli- 
ance. Again,  on  the  19th  day  of  July  ensuing,  upon  receiving 
notice  of  certain  fines  having  been  imposed  for  non  arrival  with- 
in the  time  specified  in  the  new  schedule,  the  parties  who  so 
“cheerfully”  carried  it  into  effect,  thus  address  themselves  to 
the  post  office  department.  u In  reply  to  the  postscript  to  the 
printed  circular,  stating  the  failures  of  the  mail  to  arrive  at 
Philadelphia  in  schedule  time  on  the  21st  of  June,  and  2d,  4th, 
5th  and  6th  of  July,  you  will  permit  me  to  say,  that  the  only 
schedule  time  recognized  by  the  railroad  companies  on  Route 
No.  1301  is  the  schedule  time  of  their  contract,  and  not  that 
ordered  by  the  Post  Master  General,  on  the  20th  day  of  Febru- 
ary last.”  Another  striking  evidence,  it  will  be  perceived,  of 
the  truth  of  the  Post  Master  General’s  allegation,  that  it  was 
“ duly  and  cheerfully  carried  into  effect.”  But  enough  has  been 
said  without  referring  to  other  communications,  to  make  it  mani- 
fest that  the  head  of  the  department  has  either  been  greatly  de- 


10 

eeived  or  is  grossly  ignorant  of  the  circumstances  connected  with 
the  present  controversy. 

The  Post  Master  General  expresses  regret  “ for  an  endeavor 
to  make  out  an  admission  against  his  right  *o  change  the  sche- 
dule, by  means  of  a letter  relating  to  a different  contract.”  We 
cannot  doubt  that  the  regret  he  expresses  is  sincere  on  his  part 
in  reference  to  this  letter  of  the  department,  for  in  its  admissions 
with  regard  to  the  morning  1 ne,  it  admits  every  thing  the  joint 
directors  contend  for  in  the  evening  line.  The  schedule  embraces 
both  lines;  they  are  both  contained  in  the  same  contract,  and 
the  decision  of  the  department,  must,  tl.refore,  apply  to  both 
alike.  And  what  was  that  decision  ? That  “ as  no  contract 
had  yet  been  entered  into  under  the  last  advertisement,  the  ser- 
vice you  (the  companies)  render,  is  that  prescribed  by  the  last 
contract  under  which  you  hold  over,”  and  again,  “ the  old  con- 
tracts is  to  be  referred  to  as  containing  the  only  evidence  of  agree- 
ment between  the  parties.”  It  is  upon  this  decision  that  the 
companies  rest  their  case,  and  affirm  that  the  course  pursued  by 
the  department  in  reference  to  them,  is  a plain  violation  of  the 
provisions  of  that  contract,  and  of  its  own  decision  as  to  its  ob- 
ligat’ons. 

The  Post  Master  General  then  next  states,  “ that  in  the  month 
of  September  there  occurred  a remarkable  series  of  mail  fail- 
ures, and  that  instead  of  arriving  at  Philadelphia  in  the  time 
prescribed  by  the  schedule,  the  cars  did  not  reach  that  city  until 
after  the  southern  train  had  left  for  Baltimore  and  that  no  excuse 
was  offered  for  these  failures.”  If  by  failures  he  means  the  non- 
arrival of  the  train  by  10  o’clock,  P.  M.,  he  is  undoubtedly  cor- 
rect. In  that  month  the  mails  were  frequently  not  delivered  at 
the  post  office  in  Philadelphia  by  10  o’clock,  P.  M. : — and  that  no 
excuse  was  offered  for  it,  is  true,  and  for  this  plain  reason,  that 
no  failure  of  their  engagement  had  occurred.  They  were  not 
bound  by  the  contract  under  which  they  were  running,  to  deliver 
the  mails  at  that  hour,  and  hence  there  was  no  propriety  in  of- 
fering an  excuse  where  they  had  been  guilty  of  no  remissness. 
With  as  much  propriety  might  the  Post  Master  General  have 
ordered  a schedule,  by  which  they  were  to  arrive  in  Philadelphia 


11 


by '9  o’clock,  P.  M.  or  8 P.  M.,  and  then  charge  the  company 
with  design  in  delaying  the  arrival  of  the  train  at  that  hour, 
and  withhold  from  them  all  compensation  for  the  service  they 
had  rendered.  And  this,  indeed,  would  be  a cunning  device  for 
increasing  the  revenues  of  the  department,  as  with  such  a sche- 
dule there  would  be  a failure  every  day,  so  there  would  be  a fine 
every  day,  and  these  fines  would  amount  in  the  aggregate  to  three 
thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a year.  This  system  of  dif- 
ficult, if  not  impracticable  schedules,  and  inadequate  compensa- 
tion, rigidly  administered,  although  in  its -infancy  and  but  par- 
tially developed,  has,  nevertheless,  during  the  last  year,  yielded 
a revenue  of  fines  amounting  to  26,273  54-100  dollars.  The 
public,  it  is  true,  may  suffer  from  it,  in  its  correspondence,  but 
what  is  that  to  an  economical  administration  of  the  post  office 
department,  and  the  ability  which  will  thus  be  obtained  for  the 
department  to  support  itself? 

The  Post  Master  General  assumes  the  whole  power  to  order 
schedules  not  only  without  the  consent,  but  against  the  protest  of 
the  contractors,  and  then  imputes  to  them  alone  the  blame  of  the 
disconnection  of  the  lines.  And  with  what  wisdom  and  justice 
the  whole  schedule  from  New  York  to  Washington  was  arranged 
may  be  judged  from  the  fact,  that  the  mails  despatched  from 
Philadelphia  for  Baltimore  at  10  o’clock,  P.  M.  and  delivered 
in  Baltimore  in  seven  hours,  remained  one  hour  and  a hnlf  in 
that  city  before  they  were  forwarded  to  Washington,  when  a 
delay  of  departure  from  Philadelphia  of  half  an  hour  would,  in 
a large  proportion  of  the  cases  of  failure,  have  saved  the  con- 
nection. To  whom  then  should  the  blame  of  these  disconnec- 
tions fairly  be  charged  ? 

But  although  no  excuse  was  made  to  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment for  these  miscalled  failures,  yet  there  was  in  every  case  a 
good  and  sufficient  reason  for  the  unusual  delay  in  the  arrival  o f 
the  trains  at  Philadelphia.  In  the  month  of  September  the  cur- 
rent of  travelling  sets  strongly  to  the  south  and  the  very  heavy 
trains  and  the  loss  of  time  in  transferring  the  passengers  and 
luggage  from  the  cars  to  the  beat  at  Bristol,  together  with  un- 
favorable weather  on  the  river  at  night,  delayed  them  beyond 


12 


their  usual  time  of  arrival.  It  arose  from  no  desire,  as  is  insin- 
uated, to  break  the  connection  of  the  mails,  or  to  embarrass  the 
department. 

But  to  return  to  the  terms  and  condition  of  the  contract.  By 
the  9th  section  of  that  contract  it  will  be  perceived,  that  the 
Post  Master  General  has  the  right  to  annul  the  contract  upon 
ten  days  notice,  in  case  “ the  contractor  should  refuse  to  comply 
with  such  changes  as  he  may  order  writh  reference  to  the  even- 
ing line,”  and  that  it  gives  to  the  contractor  the  right  to  “ close 
the  service  upcn  the  same  notice,  in  case  the  contractor  shall 
require  a change  of  the  hours  of  the  morning  line,  and  the  Post 
Master  General  shall  not  agree  thereto.”  The  difference  of  the 
terms  and  conditions  between  the  evening  and  the  morning  lines 
as  respects  the  rights  of  the  parties,  is  simply  this,  that  in  the 
one  case  the  Post  Master  General  has  the  right  to  annul  the 
contract,  in  the  other  case  the  contractor  has  that  right.  The 
contingency  in  the  case  of  the  evening  line,  provided  for  in  this 
section,  had  occurred.  The  Post  Master  General  had  ordered  a 
change  of  the  “hours  of  departure  and  arrival  as  set  forth  in  the 
schedule  of  the  old  contract  for  the  evening,  line,”  from  4 hours 
and  35  minutes,  to  3 hours  and  15  minutes,  and  the  company  in 
the  letter  already  referred  to  of  March  5th,  1846  had  refused  to 
carry  it  into  effect.  The  right  of  the  department  then  to  annul 
the  contract  and  to  discharge  the  contractor  upon  ten  days  notice 
is  clear  and  unquestionable.  The  annulment  of  the  contract  is 
the  only  penalty  provided  for  such  a refusal  on  the  part  of  the 
contractor.  But  the  department  did  not  annul  the  contract  or 
discontinue  the  service.  It  took  no  notice  whatever  of  the  re- 
fusal of  the  contract  r for  more  than  four  months,  and  h<  nee  he 
had  a full  and  a fair  right  to  consider  the  schedule  as  abandoned 
by  the  department.  We  maintain  again,  that  the  receipt  and 
delivery  of  the  mails  to  the  companies,  “after  their  letter  of  the 
5th  of  March,  positively  refusing  to  carry  them  exeept  upon  the 
terms  contained  in  the  old  contract,  and  the  silent  acquiescence  of 
the  department  in  those  conditions,  establishes  that  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  department,  as  the  contract  to  be  referred  to  as 


13 


containing  the  only  evidence  of  agreement  between  the  depart- 
ment and  the  company. 

The  special  pleading  of  the  Post  Master  General  in  reference 
to  the  mode  of  receiving  and  delivering  the  mails  scarcely  requires 
notice.  He  says,  the  companies  take  them  from  and  deliver 
them  at  the  post  office  in  the  city,  and  that  is  a virtual  agree- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  companies  to  carry  them  as  required. 
This  he  ought  to  know  is  part  of  their  duty.  The  mails,  ne- 
vertheless, he  does  not  deny,  are  received  by  the  agents  ot  the 
department  and  delivered  by  them  to  the  agents  of  the  compa- 
nies the  post  office  in  the  city.  The  fact  of  the  agents  of  the 
companies  taking  them  from  and  to  their  boats  in  wagons  as  they 
were  required  to  do,  and  for  which  they  had  always  received 
compensation,  bei;  g tortured  by  the  ingenuity  of  the  Post  Master 
General  into  an  acceptance  of  a contract,  in  the  face  of  their 
positive  refusal,  will  satisfy  all  reflecting  men  of  the  weakness  of 
a cause  which  requires  a quibble  to  support  it. 

It  surely  matters  not,  whether  the  mails  are  delivered  to  the 
company  by  the  agents  of  the  department  from  the  door  of  the 
post  office  in  the  city,  or  from  the  wharf  at  which  their  boats 
lie.  The  delivery  in  either  case  is  legally  the  same.  The  com- 
pany received  and  delivered  them  in  the  same  manner  precisely 
as  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  doing  under  the  old  contract, 
under  which  they  were  by  the  decision  of  the  department  hold- 
ing over,  and  from  the  terms  and  conditions  of  which  they  had 
refused  to  depart. 

We  maintain  then,  again,  that  the  Post  Master  General  has  no 
right  to  alter  the  schedule  of  the  evening  line,  without  the 
consent  of  the  company,  and  to  continue  to  employ  their  servi- 
ces after  their  refusal,  except  upon  the  terms  and  conditions  of 
the  old  contract;  and  that  in  the  case  of  their  refusal  he  had  but 
one  alternative  by  the  contract,  and  that  was,  as  has  been  already 
shown,  the  annulment  of  the  contract  and  the  discontinuance  of 
the  service.  * 

Secondly  : That  the  department  have  admitted  these  rights, 
as  was  shown  in  the  report  of  the  directors,  in  their  official  cor- 
respondence with  the  companies. 


14 


Thirdly:  That  the  department  did  receive  and  deliver  the 
mails  as  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  doing  under  the  old  con- 
tract, after  the  companies’  refusal  to  accept  any  other  terms  than 
those  contained  in  that  contract,  and  that  they  virtually  thereby 
sanctioned  and  accepted  the  conditions  ins'sted  upon  by  the  com- 
panies. 

The  Post  Master  General  lays  great  stress,  throughout  his 
whole  letter,  upon  the  hour  of  departure  from  the  cities  having 
been  made  such  as  the  companies  had  been  long  anxiously  de- 
siring, and  that  after  it  had  been  ordered  it  had  been  objected  to 
by  the  companies.  Nothing  can  be  further  from  the  truth  than 
this.  The  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  railroad  company,  and  the 
Camden  and  Amboy  company,  desire  now,  as  then,  the  hour  of 
4,  P.  M.,  as  the  time  of  departure  from  the  cit  es  for  the  evening 
line.  But  the  uncertain  arrival  of  the  line  from  Baltimore  rendered 
the  connection  at  Philadelphia  too  precarious  at  that  hour;  and 
the  mercantile  community  of  New  York  protested  so  strongly 
against  so  early  a departure  from  that  city,  that  the  New  Jersey 
Railroad  Company,  having  the  control  at  that  end  of  the  line, 
consented  to  defer  it  for  half  an  hour.  But  the  relinquishment 
of  this  privilege,  so  long  and  anxiously  desired,  was  made  by  the 
companies,  exclusively  with  a view  to  the  better  accommodation 
of  the  mercantile  interests  of  the  community  and  to  ensure  a 
more  certain  connection  of  the  mails. 

An  attempt  is  next  made,  we  regret  to  see,  by  a suppression 
of  material  portions  of  the  letter  of  the  5th  of  March,  and  by 
a collection  of  d tached  sentences  from  it,  to  prove  that  it  was 
a protest  against  the  chan;  e of  the  morning  hour  of  departure, 
but  not  against  the  evening  schedule.  He  admits  it  to  be  a “ pro- 
test” against  the  change  of  the  morni:  g schedule,  while  he  de- 
nies it  had  any  application,  except  of  acquiescence  in  the 
change  of  the  schedule  of  the  evening  line. 

But  that  there  may  be  no  misunderstanding  in  reference  to  this 
letter,  we  insert  it  entire,  that  it  may  be  seen  how  far  the  Post- 
master General  is  right  in  the  inferences  he  draws  from  it. 


15 

Philadelphia,  March  5th,  1846. 

To  the  Hon.  S.  R.  Hobbie, 

Sir  : — 1 beg  leave  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  com- 
munication of  the  20th  of  February,  and  in  reply,  regret  that 
the  Philadelphia  and  Trenton  Railroad  Company  cannot  accept 
the  schedule  for  route  1301,  ordered  by  the  Post  Master  General. 

So  far  as  this  company  is  concerned,  they  will  be  glad  to  have 
the  evening  hour  of  departure  changed  from  5 to  4,  P.  M.,  and 
will  be  prepared  to  adopt  it,  if  so  directed  by  the  department, 
on  and  after  the  ’5th  inst.  But  they  cannot  consent  to  change 
the  morning  hour  from  9 to  7 A.  M.,  except  at  such  periods  of 
the  year  as  make  the  early  hour  more  acceptable  to  the  travel- 
ling public. 

In  running  all  their  lines,  as  much  expedition  will  be  given 
to  the  mails  as  circumstances  an  I safety  will  permit ; but  not- 
withstanding the  route  is  very  frequently  run  in  5 hours  from 
city  to  city,  yet  the  company  are  not  willing  to  bind  themselves 
for  any  less  time  than  stipulated  in  their  former  contract  w ith 
the  post  office  department. 

You  are  aware  that  we  have  always  regarded  our  compensa- 
tion as  inadequate  to  the  services  we  performed,  and  cannot, 
therefore,  be  surprised  at  our  unwillingness  to  add  to  the  burdens 
of  the  latter  without  any  increase  of  the  former. 

Yet  we  are  willing  and  anxious  to  accommodate  the  depart- 
ment in  facilitating  the  transportation  of  the  mails,  provided  it 
can  be  done  at  hours  which  shall  be  satisfactory  to  the  travel- 
ling community,' whose  interests  an  ! convenience  we  feel  bound 
in  the  first  instance  to  consult.  The  company  cannot  afford  to 
run  a line  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  the  mail,  without  the  as- 
sistance of  passengers.  The  compensation  allowed  them  forbids 
it.  Put  in  case  the  convenience  of  the  travelling  community  and 
the  arrangements  of  the  post  office  department  should  conflict  in 
regard  to  this  matter,  in  the  spirit  of  accommodation  which  dic- 
tated their  proposition  to  the  department,  in  February,  1845, 
they  repeat  the  offer  of  the  use  of  their  roads  for  the  transportation 
of  the  mails  of  the  United  States,  without  charge,  at  such  hours, 


16 

and  at  such  speed  as  may  be  deemed  by  the  department  most  de- 
sirable. 

With  great  respect, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  R.  THOMSON, 
President  of  P.  T.  R.  R.  Cc. 

From  this  letter  it  will  be  seen,  Firstly,  that  the  compa- 
nies u cannot  accept  the  schedule  for  route  1301,  ordered  by 
the  Post  Master  General.”  This  schedule  embraced  both  the 
morning  and  evening  lines.  Secondly,  That  a change  of 
hour  from  5 to  4,  P.  M.,  will  be  acceptable  to  them,  but  not 
a change  of  the  morning  hour  from  9 to  7 A.  M.,  except  at 
certain  seasons. 

Thirdly^,  That  in  running  all  their  lines  they  will  expe- 
dite the  mails  as  much  as  circumstances  and  safety  will 
permit,  but  they  will  not  consent  to  bind  themselves  for  any 
less  time  for  performing  their  trips  than  is  provided  in  their 
old  contract,  and  that  they  were  not  willing  to  increase  their 
burdens  without  additional  compensation.  What  burdens'? — 
there  was  but  one  in  the  new  schedule,  adn  that  was  laid  upon 
the  evening  line ; and  yet  the  Post  Master  General  says  this  is 
only  a protest  against  the  change  of  the  morning  hour. 

The  running  time  for  the  morning  line,  it  will  be  perceived 
from  the  schedule  annexed,  does  not  vary  much  from  that 
of  the  schedule  of  1840.  Little  objection  could  be  made  to 
it  on  that  score.  But  the  great  reduction  of  the  time  of  ri  n- 
ning  was  made  in  the  evening  schedule  from  New  York,  from  4 
hours  and  35  minutes,  to  3 hours  and  15  minutes,  and  there- 
fore it  wa3  against  this  alteration  in  the  schedule  that  the 
protest  of  the  company  was  principally  directed.  We 
cannot  conceive  how  it  was  possible  to  be  understood  others 
wise. 

Schedule  ordered  by  the  Post  Master  General  to  take  ef- 
fect from  the  15th  of  March,  1846. 

Leave  New  Brunswick,  daily,  at  6 1-4,  P.  M. 

Arrive  at  Philadelphia,  “ “ 9 1-2,  P.  M. 

Leave  Philadelphia,  u u 7,  A.  M. 

Arrive  at  New  Brunswick  same  day  11,  A.  M. 


17 


SECOND  LINE. 

Leave  New  Brunswick,  daily,  at  11  1-4,  A.  M. 

Arrive  in  Philadelphia  same  day,  3,  P.  M. 

Leave  Philadelphia  daily,  at  4,  P.  M. 

Arrive  at  New  Brunswick  same  day,  8 l-4>  P.  M. 

After  having  labored,  by  selected  extracts  from  the  letter 
of  protest,  to  prove  that  it  was  not  a protest  against  the  eve- 
ning line,  but  only  against  the  change  of  hour  in  the  morning 
line,  with  what  success  will  have  been  seen  from  the  foregoing 
examination,  he  proceeds,  next,  to  affirm  that  there  is  nothing 
unreasonable  in  the  schedule  of  the  20th  of  February,  which  he 
had  ordered.  He  invariably  overlooks  the  important  fact 
that  for  8 months  in  the  year,  21  miles  are  run  by  steam 
boat,  and  mail  wagon,  and  38  miles  by  railroad ; for,  by  the 
contract,  the  mails  are  received  and  delivered  atjthe  post  office 
in  the  city.  If  the  whole  distance  were  performed  on  rail- 
roads, he  would  not  be  so  much  in  error.  The  necessary 
speed  could  then,  without  difficulty,  be  attained.  But  such  is 
not  the  case ; a fact  which  he  appears  to  be  entirely  uncon- 
scious of,  or  entirely  to  disregard.  And  in  page  10  says,  that 
the  joint  directors  set  up  the  speed  of  a “ steamboat  route  on 
Long  Island  Sound  as  a standard,  by  which  to  regulate  the 
speed  of  the  highest  class  railroad  in  the  United  States.”  How 
unjust — how  unfair,  all  who  have  read  the  report  of  the  di- 
rectors will  painfully  feel.  He  also  states  that  in  the  report 
there  are  some  errors  in  reference  to  the  length  of  the  route 
from  New  York  to  Stonington,  and  of  the  schedule  time  of 
the  boats  on  the  North  River.  But  these,  if  true,  are  very 
unimportant.  The  information  respecting  them  was  obtained 
from  the  officers  of  the  companies  in  New  York,  and  was  be- 
lieved to  be  correct.  But  we  will  adopt  the  highest  schedule 
speed  of  the  boats,  as  stated  by  the  Post  Master  General,  viz : 
13  1-23,  instead  of  12  miles,  as  assumed  in  the  report.  This  rate 
of  speed,  then,  for  the  steamboat  route  from  Philadelphia  to 
Bristol,  21  miles,  would  give  1 hour  and  26  minutes,  to  be 
deducted  from  3 hours  and  15  minutes,  leaving  1 hour  and 

49  minutes  to  perform  the  railroad  route  of 38  miles;  or 

s 


18 


nearly  21  miles  an  hour,  instead  of  16  4-13,  as  stated  in  the 
letter,  without  any  allowances  whatever  for  the  reduction  of 
speed  through  the  towns,  stopping  to  receive  and  deliver  pas- 
sengers and  mails,  and  in  changing  passengers,  mails  and  bag- 
gage from  the  steamboat  to  the  railroad.  But  making,  as 
should  be  done,  these  allowances,  as  set  lorth  in  the  report  of 
the  directors,  requiring  a running  speed  of  30  miles  per  hour. 
And  this,  he  repeats,  is  not  unreasonable,  and  concludes  this 
branch  of  his  subject  by  stating  that  “ it  is  idle  to  waste  time 
to  show  that  the  speed  required  is  perfectly  practicable;  for 
these  gentlemen  have,  since  the  pending  of  this  controversy 9 
offered  to  increase  even  this  speed,  on  one  day  of  the  week, 
if  the  department  would  consent  to  a change  of  hour  for  that 
day,  “ Sunday.”  This,  indeed,  is  true.  This  offer  was  made 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  department  to  dis- 
continue the  morning  line  on  the  Sabbath;  but  how  it  was  pro- 
posed to  run  this  line,  if  he  knew,  he  does  not  think  proper 
to  state.  The  speed  required  to  make  good  the  schedule,  we 
have  been  considering  by  railroad  alone,  is  within  the  regula- 
tion of  the  companies  and  can  be  attained  without  any  diffi- 
culty; and  the  line  proposed  would  have  been  run  by  railroad 
to  Camden,  dispensing  with  the  boat  at  Bristol.  This  steam- 
boat part  of  the  route,  as  run,  for  so  large  a portion  of  the 
yCar,  is  what  the  Post  Master  General,  throughout  his' whole  let- 
ter never  appears  to  take  into  view,  and  he  reasons  altogether 
as  if  the  whole  route  was  a railroad  route,  and  hence  the  mis- 
takes as  to  facts  and  inferences  into  which  he  has  fallen. 

A doubt,  also,  seems  to  be  insinuated  in  reference  to  the  length 
of  the  route,  as  he  states  the  sworn  distance  is  but  53  93-100 
miles ; and  in  reply  to  the  statement  in  the  report,  that  the 
joint  companies*  cars  continue  to  New  Brunswick,  3 1-2  miles 
beyond  the  junction  of  their  road,  with  the  road  of  the  New 
Jersey  Railroad  Company  ; “ true,”  he  says,  sneeringly,  “ arid 
so  they  continue  to  the  end  of  the  route,  at  New  York,  or 
rather  Jersey  City.”  This  sworn  distance  he  might,  in  all 
candor,  have  stated  was  on  a route  not  now  run,  beginning 
at  the  comer  of  3d  and  Willow  streets,  more  than  one  mile 


19 


from  the  city  post  office,  and  on  the  Philadelphia  and  Trenton 
railroad,  via  Frankford,  Bristol  and  Trenton.  His  knowl- 
edge of  the  connection  and  the  geography  of  the  route,  will  fur- 
ther advantageously  appear  from  the  following  extract  from  his 
letter,  page  12,  “ the  junction  of  the  roads  of  the  two  compa 
nies,  is  in  the  town  of  New  Brunswick,  about  three  and  a half 
miles  from  the  village  of  that  name.  But  where  that  village 
is  situated  is  a matter  of  indifference  in  this  question,  each 
road  having  its  own  schedule  and  its  own  pay,  according  to 
its  own  length  and  the  same  car  performing  the  entire  trip 
over  both  roads.” 

But  this  is  not  so  much  a matter  of  indifference  as  may 
at  first  be  supposed  by  the  Post  Master  General.  In  the  ar- 
rangement of  a schedule  for  performing  a distance  on  roads 
owned  by  different  companies,  and  connecting  at  a certain 
point,  it  is  not  a matter  of  indifference  in  regard  to  the 
time  allowed  to  the  companies,  respectively,  that  one  should 
receive  the  credit  in  time  for  performing  what  it  does  not 
perform,  and  the  other  receive  no  credit  for  what  it  does  per- 
form. The  engine  of  the  joint  companies  carries  the  train  to 
New  Brunswick,  a city  of  10,000  inhabitants,  incorporated  in 
the  year  1784,  and  not  a “village,”  as  set  down  by  the  Post 
Master  General.  The  time  lists,  kept  by  the  conductors,  on 
both  companies,  commence  and  terminate  at  this  city.  And 
the  injusiice  of  the  scale  of  the  department  consists  in  this : 
that  the  New  Jersey  Railroad  Company  have  time  allowed 
them  for  34  miles,  when  they  run  only  30,  and  the  joint  com- 
panies are  only  allowed  time  for  53J,  when  they  actually  per- 
form 58 J.  This  may  be,  it  is  true,  a matter  of  indifference 
to  the  department,  but  it  is  not  so  to  the  company,  who  suffer 
by  it. 

The  next  subject  noticed  by  the  Post  Master  General 
is  that  of  mail  agents,  “ which,  he  says,  the  companies  refuse 
to  carry  over  their  road.”  The  importance  of  these  agents 
on  the  road  of  the  companies  does  not  appear  so  evident  to  the 
joint  directors  as  it  does  to  the  Post  Master  General.  At  any 
rate,  if  so  important  to  the  department  and  its  revenues,  and  en- 


t 


20 

tirely  unnecessary  to  the  companies,  why  should  the  department 
impose  this  burden  upon  them,  without  proposing  to  pay  them 
any  consideration  for  doing  so  ? This  would  seem  to  be  at 
once  an  answer  to  the  department.  But  the  companies  have 
always  been  anxious  to  accommodate  the  public,  so  far  as  it 
can  be  done  with  safety  to  themselves,  and  they  therefore 
consented  to  receive  those  agents,  upon  the  condition  that 
they  should  be  such  persons  as  they  would  have  confidence 
would  not  carry  on  a commerce  on  their  own  account,  as  is 
too  often  done  to  the  injury  of  the  companies.  The  nomina- 
tion, by  the  companies,  of  these  agents,  the  present  Post 
Master  General  seems  to  regard  as  an  encroachment  upon 
the  rights  of  the  federal  government,  that  strikes  him  with 
dismay.  But  it  is  not  a novel  proposition.  His  predecessors 
did  not  regard  their  throne  usurped,  or  their  sceptre  taken 
from  them,  because  a mail  contractor  had  the  privilege  of 
nominating  a mail  agent,  to  the  department,  for  its  approval. 
We  have  before  us  the  contract  to  carry  a mail  from  Phila- 
delphia to  Trenton,  via  Frankford,  Bristol,  Morrisville,  &c., 
made  with  Mr.  Cumming,  on  the  19th  day  of  July,  1841,  and 
subsequently,  transferred  to  the  Trenton  Railroad  company,  in 
which  there  is  to  be  found  the  following  proviso ; “ And,  for 
these  purposes,  to  furnish  a post  office  car,  and  the  requisite 
agents  to  assort,  deliver  and  receive  the  mails ; said  agents, 
however,  to  be  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Post  Master 
General.”  With  regard  to  the  transaction  of  business  on 
their  own  account,  to  the  detriment  of  the  company,  “ which 
he  regards  as  a libel  upon  men  of  worth  and  standing,”  we 
can  only  reply,  that  it  has  been  done  very  extensively,  and 
that,  in  all  probability,  it  will  continue  to  be  done,  to  a greater 
or  less  extent,  according  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  and 
character  of  the  agents.  But  this  does  not  affect  the  depart- 
ment. The  railroad  companies  alone  suffer  from  it.  But  even 
this  is  no  longer  a subject  of  contention  between  the  depart- 
ment and  the  companies;  the  latter,  to  accommodate  the 
department  and  the  public,  having  consented,  conditionally,  to 
receive  and  carry  them  in  their  cars, 


21 


But  the  length  of  this  review  admonishes  us  to  be  brief  in 
the  consideration  of  the  matters  which  remain  still  to  be  no- 
ticed. The  Post  Master  General  is  pleased  to  say,  that  “ all 
refusals  and  omissions  the  joint  directors  think  they  have 
made  ample  satisfaction  for,  by  having  offered  to  the  post 
office  department  the  free  use  of  their  road  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  the  mails  at  any  hour,  and  at  any  rate  of  speed  they 
might  adopt.” — “ It  is  true  they  made  the  offer” — “ and  it  is 
true  they  run  no  sort  of  risk  in  making  the  offer.” — “ It  was 
utterly  impossible  for  the  Post  Master  General  to  accept  if  Whe- 
ther the  company  thought  so  or  not.  He  had  no  authority  by  law 
to  apply  the  funds  of  the  department  to  the  purchase  and  man- 
agement of  steam  engines,  and  railroad  cars,”  &c.,  &c, 
What ! can  this  be  possible  1 Has  he  then  no  authority,  by 
law,  to  make  a contract  with  a company  or  an  individual,  to 
eonvey  the  mail  on  a road,  no  matter  whether  a rail 
road  or  a common  road,  the  use  of  which  is  offered  to  him  ? 
Is  it  necessary  for  the  department  to  purchase  engines  and 
cars,  and  to  employ  and  supervise  engineers  and  firemen, 
when  it  can  make  a contract  with  persons  who  are  prepared 
to  furnish  them,  and,  for  a given  sum,  would  engage  to  per- 
form the  required  service  ? As  well  might  he  say  it  was 
necessary  to  purchase  the  horses  and  coaches  upon  the  com- 
mon roads,  and  to  supervise  the  drivers,  as  to  say  it  was 
necessary  to  purchase  the  engines,  and  cars,  &c.,  for  the  same 
specific  purpose,  viz.  the  conveyance  of  the  mails.  No,  he 
has  the  same  power,  by  law,  to  make  a contract  in  both  cases, 
and  we  must  seek  for  some  other  reason  for  his  declining  the 
offer  of  the  companies,  than  the  want  of  authority,  by  law,  to 
make  such  a contract. 

The  offer  of  the  free  use  of  the  road  was  originally  made 
in  view  of  the  injury  sustained  by  the  public  by  the  south- 
ern mail  being  detained  so  long  in  Philadelphia  before  being 
forwarded  to  New  York,  from  2 in  the  morning  to  9,  (before 
which  time  it  ought  to  be  in  New  York,)  seven  hours.  The 
companies  themselves  could  not  afford  to  run  a line  at  that 
hour,  for  they  could  not  expect  to  carry  any  passengers,  that 


would  not  (if  no  sucli  line  existed,)  take  their  earliest  regular 
line  to  New  York ; and  the  expense  of  running  an  engine  and 
car,  expressly  for  the  mail,  would  be  far  greater  than  the 
compensation  allowed  ]?y  act  of  Congress,  and  the  construc- 
tion of  the  post  office  department,  for  such  service.  It  is  a 
matter  of  regret,  though  not  of  surprise,  that  this  offer  should 
be  received  and  treated,  as  it  has  been,  by  the  department, 
and  sneered  at  as  a “futile”  offer,  and  that  the  views  and 
motives  of  the  companies  should  have  been  so  entirely  mis- 
understood and  depreciated  in  making  it. 

But  before  we,  conclude  this  examination  of  the  letter  of  the 
Post  Master  General,  it  is  necessary  to  refer  to  the  subject  of 
compensation  for  services  rendered  by  railroad  companies  in 
the  transportation  of  the  mails  of  the  United  States.  In  the 
year  1839,  an  act  of  Congress  was  approved,  limiting  the  Post 
Master  General  to  the  payment  of  not  more  than  $300  a mile. 
That  act  had  reference  to  the  weight  and  bulk  of  the  mails  at 
the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  law.  But,  from  the  annual 
report  of  the  Post  Master  General,  these  have  increased 
from  200  to  300  per  cent,  in  weight  since  that  time.  The 
expansion  of  the  post  office  department,  and  a corresponding 
expansion  of  the  service  on  railroads,  has  been  ascertained 
from  authentic  data,  to  more  than  quadruple  itself  in  twenty 
years,  so  that,  if  the  pay  for  the  service  should  bear  any  pro- 
portion to  the  expansion,  the  compensation  per  mile,  in 
1847,  should  be  $500  per  mile,  instead  of  the  present  allow- 
ance of  $300.  Taken  in  another  point  of  view  the  present 
rate  of  compensation  will  appear  utterly  inadequate.  The 
space  occupied  in  the  crates  and  the  cars  of  the  companies 
by  the  mails,  and  the  mail  agents,  would  readily  accommodate 
forty  passengers,  which,  at  three  dollars  each,  would  produce 
one  hundred  and  twenty  dollars  per  trip,  whilst  the  pay 
for  the  mails  is  only  about  twelve  dollars.  Again : the  same 
accommodation  would  carry  six  tons  of  merchandize,  which? 
at  eight  dollars  per  ton,  would  yield  forty-eight  dollars;  or,  if 
the  cheapest  freight  were  carried,  say  flour  and  iron,  at  the 
usual  prices  of  two  dollars  and  a half  per  ton  would  yield 


23 


fifteen  dollars;  so  that  it  will  appear  that  the  United  States 
have  their  mails  carried  in  the  fastest  lines,  at  a cheaper  rate 
than  is  paid  for  iron  and  flour  in  regular  transportation  lines, 
which  occupy,  in  the  passage  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia, 
sixteen  hours. 

It  cannot  then  be  wondered  at,  that  these  companies,  per- 
forming such  unrequited  services,  should  seek  to  obtain,  by 
way  of  indemnification,  a contract  on  another  railroad  owned 
by  them,  connecting,  by  a steamboat  route  of  twenty-five 
miles,  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  The  Post 
Master  General,  in  referring  to  this,  at  the  close  of  his  letter, 
states  “that  the  southern  mail,  going  to  New  York,  by  this 
route,  might  be  somewhat  facilitated,  but  not  much.”  Not 
much  ! True,  not  always  a day,  yet,  frequently,  for  want  of 
it,  a whole  day  is  lost  in  the  connections  with  the  north  and 
east,  as  is  admitted  in  the  letter  of  the  Post  Master  General, 
of  Jan.  31st,  1845,  which  speaks  of  the  connection  by  the 
other  route,  “via  Trenton  and  Jersey  City,  being  hazarded  and 
broken.”  A mail  on  this  route  (Amboy  route,)  leaving  the 
city  of  Philadelphia  at  5 or  6 o’clock,  A.  M.,  three  or  four 
hours  in  advance  of  the  mail  train  on  the  upper  route  would 
always  preserve  this  connection  unbroken  ; and,  is  this  of  no 
importance  to  the  community  ? Besides,  by  the  line  arriving 
in  New  York,  three  hours  in  advance  of  the  mail,  mailable 
matter  is  forwarded  by  private  conveyance,  more  in  all  pro- 
bability, than  sufficient  to  pay  the  cost  of  a contract  on  this 
route.  And,  in  addition  to  all  this,  the  towns  of  Heightstown, 
Spotswood,  Freehold,  and  others,  within  a short  distance,  on 
either  side  of  the  Camden  and  Amboy  road  would  be  furnish- 
ed with  mail  accommodation,  for  which  they  have  in  vain  so 
long  been  praying : — all  of  which  considerations  seem  to  make 
no  impression  on  the  head  of  the  department. 


By  order, 


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